Nurseries and emotional well‐being: evaluating an emotionally containing model of professional development

Abstract

Despite official endorsement of attachment principles in nursery work, these are often not translated into nursery practice. One possible reason for this is that staff training does not sufficiently address the personal implications and anxieties that children's attachments may entail for practitioners. Working from a psychoanalytic perspective on organisational functioning and group learning, this paper describes action research with a group of nursery heads who participated in a professional development programme designed specifically to explore emotional experience in professional work. The positive evaluations of the programme by heads and their staff are described including examples of experiential learning and of increased staff awareness about, and responsiveness to, the emotional experience of children. However, the research also concluded that sustained effectiveness of the model is likely to be dependent on an ongoing culture of attention to the emotional experience of nursery staff within nursery umbrella organisations.

Leading for quality improvement: a comparative research agenda in early childhood education in England and Hong Kong

“…In line with a concept of an ethic of care, leadership that focuses on the quality of relationships; that expresses interest and value in the everyday connections between people is regarded as offering the highest quality for ECE. Again, it is unclear whether this is similarly important to policy makers who seem to have concentrated on increasing the professionalization of staff possibly at the expense of their closeness and their ability to articulate the care for the children and families they work with (Elfer andDearnley 2007, McGivillray 2011).…”

“…Research by Osgood (2004) calls for the value of an ethic of care being recognized as an essential aspect of ECE provision. In order to achieve this, mechanisms must be put in place that encourage an environment of genuine, reciprocal care between staff, children and families which enhances social cohesion and the development of personal resilience (Elfer and Dearnley 2007). In line with a concept of an ethic of care, leadership that focuses on the quality of relationships; that expresses interest and value in the everyday connections between people is regarded as offering the highest quality for ECE.…”

The power of psychoanalytic conceptions in understanding nurseries

“…In parallel with this research, a multi-disciplinary group facilitated by a child psychotherapist at the Tavistock, Katy Dearnley, has been working on a new model of training for nursery heads and managers that draws on work discussion principles (Elfer & Dearnley, 2007). The training, for 12 nursery leaders, takes place in a series of sessions lasting overall for 20 hours.…”

Containing HIV and AIDS: Creating a readers’ theatre script for professional learning in higher education

“…However, due to the contained space that was created, we as facilitators did not observe any constraining anxiety. In our view this contained space allowed participants to ponder and converse about anxiety-provoking feelings with people who could lend an ear (Elfer and Dearnley 2007).…”